Thursday, 6 December 2012

Shortly after I had an encounter
with the Holy Spirit my whole life changed. One of the most significant changes
that I have experienced in this time has been the revelation of true my
identity, who I really am. This revelation from the Holy Spirit is changing me.
Learning how to live this new identity is so exciting, incredibly challenging
and amazingly rewarding. It’s simply learning to live “out of God”, I was
created for this, it is simply my calling.

More than any other thing I would
suggest, the revelation of one’s identity, is one of the primary functions of
the person of the Holy Spirit on earth. As I have been walking through this
identity issue, there is going on within me an “exchange”. I am receiving
revelation from the Holy Spirit as to who I really am and in this process the
Holy Spirit is revealing himself to me as a person, put another way as I get to
know the Spirit, I get to know me. The more time I spend with the Holy Spirit,
the more I get to know Him, the more I know Him the more He shows me who I am,
the more I know my own identity the closer I walk with Him, the closer I walk
with Him the further sin or the desire to sin departs from me. Simply spoken this
is transformation.

As I was thinking over the new
way I was now experiencing God, the Holy Spirit asked me a question which threw
me back for a few months. I now think more than two years later I am grasping a
new element of my identity, of who I am. One day the Holy Spirit all of a
sudden asked me “Why do you take the name of the Lord in vain?"

My first
response was when? How? Where? I told Him I didn’t take Jesus name, or swear by
His name or anything of the kind. Before I became a Christian I was guilty of this
charge hour after hour. (In fact the day I became a Christian, the first
miracle that happened to me was instantly my bad language was removed, this
testified that something significant had changed when Jesus forgave me and
became my Lord and Saviour).

As I responded to the Holy Spirit, He replied and
said the same thing “Why do you take the name of the Lord in vain?"

From this
point on I noticed a reaction in my spirit whenever I prayed and used the name
of Jesus. My spirit was sensing a reaction from the Holy Spirit when at the end
of my prayer I used the words “in Jesus name” a question started to burn within
me as I tried to grapple with what this might be. This was pressing hard on my spirit, all of a
sudden I just stopped saying those words “in Jesus name”.

As I prayed in
meetings I would just end my prayer without saying those words. I knew that
this position I was taking was unbiblical, in the book of Acts we see the
example of the apostles in this regard.

Acts 3:8 says “In the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, walk” just to give you one example, but though I knew this
I was unable to say it. I found it funny when others would say these words for
me and that might be all they said. What were they doing? Why were they
finishing off my prayers? They had no idea what was going on within me.

As time passed I pondered what
the Holy Spirit was asking me “Why do you take the name of the Lord in vain?" In
the past two years the Holy Spirit has worked with me on this one. I began to
realise my words “in Jesus name” were just that, words, just plain vain words,
and in using His glorious name in this way I was guilty of sinning against my
Jesus though I never knew it.

Once this realisation sank home
with me, I knew I needed to be taught how to move on from this point. Though I
now had understanding, how would this new understanding change things? I knew
it was offending the Holy Spirit and now more than ever I certainly did not
utter those words. It’s amazing once I responded in obedience and stopped
praying in Jesus name, the Holy Spirit moved and brought me on this amazing
journey of revealing a truth that is changing my identity.

Romans 2:24 says"the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of the
people of God”.

I believe I have been guilty of this charge. Many times I have
prayed in the name of Jesus just like I said above and today I know those words
of mine were just words, little different when Jesus accused the Pharisees of
babbling when they prayed. Today when I use the words “in Jesus name” I know
the power and authority I release in those moments.

Psalm 115:16 says “The
highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth He has given to man”.

We mere
humans have been given dominion on earth. Did you ever wonder of all places,
why God decided to place man on earth, the same place He had cast down the
fallen angel and all his hordes onto?

Why make it so difficult for us having
such a “powerful foe” opposing us. It did not take long until satan stole our
authority in the garden when man (we) disobeyed God.

God foresaw it and
purposed a plan in us that pleased Him. Gods plan was to use His created beings
(us) who worship Him to be the very agents to dislodge the enemies on this
earth. After Jesus defeated him on the cross, God saw it proper that we His
followers should make captives of our captors (Isaiah 14:2).

We are purposed
for it. I and you are uniquely made (Psalm 139:13-16), I and you are uniquely
for a purpose, God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10), I and you are uniquely
placed in this generation, in the exact street you live (Acts 17:26) and I and
you are uniquely gifted to bless those we live amongst (1 Peter 4:10-11). I can
do best and you can do best, that for which the Father has designed you. If I
don’t do it then another may do it but not to the mark that God ordained, it
will be somehow flawed because if I fail to do so anything else is plan B. Just
look at How God trusts and believes in me, no one else has this trust in you or
me, no one. I am completely trusted by the Father and you too.

Isaiah 53:5 says Jesus has done it all,
He has taken care of the sin issue and the disease issue “He was pierced for
our transgressions….the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by
His wounds we are healed."

Notice it’s all past tense, His work is finished as
Jesus said on the Cross “It is finished”, ours is only starting and the
starting point is that place of rest which Jesus restored. Jesus died on the
cross for me, He took my place. In fact Jesus died as me, If I believe I have
been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20). When I enter into the covenant of
His Blood, I take His identity, I no longer live, but He lives in me. For the
joy set before Jesus, He endured the cross. What was this joy? Yes it’s me and
you. Imagine He considered it a joy to inherit us and became obedient to death
on a tree. He did it because He loved us and if that was all He still would
have done it, but no, that’s just a small part, there is much more, He did it also
to defeat the work of the enemy on earth and we are part of that plan.

Luke 9:1When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them
power andauthorityto drive out all demons and to cure diseases (It was the same when
He sent out the 72),Luke 10:19 I have given youauthorityto trample on snakes and scorpions and
to overcome all the power of the enemy.

Matthew 28:18Then
Jesus came to them and said, "Allauthorityin heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go…teaching
them to obey everything I have commanded you."

So as you see all authority has
been given us His followers. Many of us
talk about the great commission but few of us focus on the “teaching them to
obey everything I have commanded you”. One of the most challenging of those
commands is found in Matthew 10:7-8as you go, preach
this message: "The kingdom of heaven is near. 'Heal the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse those who have leprosy,drive
out demons. Freely you have received, freely give” (Notice we are not commanded
to pray for it).

When the Holy Spirit connected these two verses for me it was
an amazing revelation to me. Having been Baptised with the Holy Spirit
three years ago this burning desire to move in healing prophetic evangelism has
captured me, but my theology was stifling me. Now all of a sudden the display
of the power and glory that accompanied the first Christians in the book of
Acts was now within my realm of possibilities. This single revelation from the
Holy Spirit removed from me ignorance in connection with healing and the gift
of healing, removed the question in my head as to whether healing was for today
and now for the first time my head and heart had come into agreement with
scripture that physical healing was indeed for today. More than that, I now know
I have authority to heal the sick. More than this I now am seeing breakthrough
and release testimony. The people of God lost their way as it says in the Old
Testament when they forgot about testimony and remembered it no more.

At a conference recently the Holy Spirit
said to me “You have permission”. These words have been finding a home within
me this last two months, at the time of hearing this it was hard to digest. As
time passed it became more difficult. Tell me where does the authority in these
words end? Think about it, to me there seems there is no end. Authority is
nothing without power and power becomes nothing without authority.

Acts 1:8 provides
the answer to the power issue, “But you will receivepowerwhen theHolySpiritcomes on you”.This
is not a salvation issue, over and over again in the New Testament we see that
the believers were Baptised with the Holy Spirit. If
they were already believers they already had been sealed with the Spirit, just
read the Book of Acts and see it. How did I miss this truth for years? Who said
the Christian life is boring, my journey these last three years has just been
amazing, just utterly incredible and day by day, revelation after revelation I
am finding out for the first time who I am. Just when you think you have a
handle on it all another door opens. Right now the Holy Spirit is highlighting
a word for me which is responsibility, and I know I will now learn from Him
what this is all about. I sense a jigsaw
coming together.

So what do I say? just to recap, He
has given me authority to trample, Faith to believe, Words which become Spirit,
and told me to go and move in his authority, told me I am as He is (1 John 4:17“because as He is, so are we in this word”). He has put His words in my mouth, He has given me permission. He has
told me He Knows me and not just my name, He has anointed me, He has released
me in His authority, I could keep going.

Just who am I? My mindset as a
Christian for the first 20 years of my Christian walk has been a concentration
on sin, my last three years an encounter with the Spirit where Truth is being
revealed. A word I received from Spirit three years ago was 1 John 2:27“As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you
do not need anyone to teach you, but as his anointing teaches you about all
things"…. It has been so rewarding being taught by the Spirit, just sheer
transformation.

Many days I sat in tears just coming to terms with what He was
teaching me. One of the
favourites The Spirit has taught me is found in Numbers 6:24-27“The Lord bless
you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to
you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace. So they will
put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

I as a man can put the
Lords name on a person, and because I do this simple act the Lord will bless
them. Who am I, what is this call that I a child of the King possess.

Some might accuse me of being out
of control, but you cannot be a Christian unless you are out of control, unless
you wish to be one of the nominal kind. The measure you use defines the measure
God uses so if you limit God you have limited yourself. To be a Christian and ALIVE
you must surrender full control to the Holy Spirit and that place is achieved
only when you are full with the Spirit, when you are filled with the Spirit, you
are out of your own control and in His control. The ones who retain control are
really the ones out of control because the scripture says God controls all
things unless you hold out. I am the kingdom come, the kingdom of God is within
me, I need to learn how to release that which is within. Unless you know who
you are you are not in a position to release anything. Peter at the Gate of
Beautiful could only give away what he had, and to give it away He had to know
He had it.

We are called to live from Heaven on earth, I am a citizen of heaven
living on earth. My home is with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I am a
Spiritual nomad, or if you like a “Spiritual Traveller”. Elijah was one, Elisha
was one, Jesus, Philip, Paul and lastly John as can be seen from the Revelation4:1-2 “there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the
voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here,
and I will show you what must take place after this. At once I was in the
Spirit" When John entered in at once he was in the Spirit, and we know
from Romans the Kingdom is in the Spirit. All these years I have been an unbelieving believer, believing the bible
but not really believing and accepting it for what is says. I challenge you, Dare
to believe what it says.

Now just when I think I have this
prayer thing figured out, the “in the name of Jesus” thing, the Spirit is
telling me to stop praying. Scary for some but humbling for me. We pray for
things that are already within our grasp. Many pray that God would come down
and change our circumstances or touch our sick neighbour etc, but the truth is
God came as a baby, grew in favour with the Father, died for the world and
opened a way through His blood for the forgiveness of sin and thereby reconcile
all who would call on His name. God has come and you are the answer to the
prayer you make, many times God is not in your prayer, He is awaiting your
faith to step into that which Jesus has already given you, He is waiting for
you to take that authority that He has given you. The Holy Spirit is telling me
to declare it, decree it and proclaim it and walk in it. The other night at 3am
two men were damaging the bus shelter by our house, I could see them through
the bedroom window but I did not engage with them. I had just asked the Holy
Spirit that day to teach me how to walk in the heavenly realm. I commanded the
two men to stop in the name of Jesus and do you know what happened..Nothing (I
was speaking to them as flesh men). Just then I said “I bind you in the name of
Jesus” (I spoke into the heavenly realm), instantly the two men stopped and
walked away. Those men were drunk and in that state had opened themselves to
the influence of a spirit of destruction. When I spoke into the spirit realm
the authority of Christ was released and the inferior authority of the demonic
spirit was instantly bound. When I release His words, all changes.

Christ came into my life when I
became a believer, The Spirit of Christ came upon me when I was Baptised with
the Holy Spirit. God’s agenda is “release”, I am enabled by the Spirit to
release his Kingdom, I am the will of God prophesied. In the last days I will
pour out my Spirit was the prophetic word of God, I am that Kingdom come, the
Kingdom of the Spirit. I am transformed, that is who I am. The title of this
paper posed a question “WHO AM I?”. The answer is in the question. I am who I am
because the ancient “I AM” lives in me. He has given me identity, and that
identity is His very presence within me enabled by His anointing upon me the
Baptism with the Spirit. He makes me who I am, He makes me His Kingdom come. I
live because He lives, I breathe because He gives me breath, I awaken because
He opens my eyes. I am nothing without the Father, He sustains my every moment.
I am revival and do you know what, you can be all this too. Dare to believe it
and find yourself living it and not just talking it, though talking it
prophesies it over your life. The cries of my earlier blogs have become my
testimonies of today, God’s transformation power is extravagant. I praise Him
because today He is enabling me live extravagantly and you know what I’m only
starting to live this amazing marriage with my redeemer, and I live it through
the enabling of the Spirit. Thankfully to this point He did not divorce me. Dare
to believe it.

God does not do ordinary. If you just pray ordinary
God does not need to be God and move – we can do this and answer those prayers
ourselves. If fact many say we are the answer to the prayer ourselves and that
is true because our prayer and expectation so ordinary. We are not the ones who
can answer the extraordinarily un-unimaginable prayers, we are not the one who
delivers the signs and miracles – but we are asked to step out and believe and
as we step HE WILL MOVE. Become a people who move God.

You must make a space for God to move – God does the supernatural
“stuff” but only for an expectant heart. Dare to believe it and be transformed.